Beach Combing

 What is it about the seaside that renders architects whimsical and nautical?

Here a smile and an eye, and.....

lo and behold a complete ship!

Here is the Atlantic from high up

and more of the same.

How we must study the water on cool days and warm ones. This was a pretty chilly day. The young man on the right was a champions surfer who had broken his nose twice. What did your mother say? I asked. He just smiled.

How mesmerizing the water

paddling out

or merely watching

getting one's feet wet

and looking at the bright colors of wet stones.

Looking for shells

and little plants.

Abandoned structures loom through the mist

Then, finally, sunset on the water.

ps. I'm teaching a workshop called "The Need To Tell Stories" all weekend with Seth Apter and Roxanne Evans Stout at Little Bird Studios in New York. It should be fun....

An Excursion to the Mysterious East Side

I  rarely venture much above 23rd Street,

so this part of New York seems almost a different country

full of very important people doing business type things.

The architecture is mid last-century and reminds me, oddly, of Ayn Rand.

In the forties 

they take skyscrapers very seriously indeed.

Even the Chrysler building looks odd.

ps. I just gobbled up my copy of Tess Kincaid's Patina, a collection of her vivid and touching poems which arrived from Amazon on Monday.I'm proud to say have been blog friends (and out of blog) friends with Willow for five years now. This is a super collection. My favorite is Blue Plate Special. Highly recommended

Shadow Shot Sunday/Apple Store

Shadow Shot Sunday again.
Go here for more participants.



Friday lunch time at the Apple Store on 14th Street.
R. was looking at techie stuff.
I was transfixed, as ever, by the staircase.



One thing I like about Apple is that all the young people who work there are so keen on everything.
They wear orange and turquoise T-shirts but do not treat a technophobe like me as the idiot I am.



A vendor has set up a stall selling jewelry outside the door. What are we now? Soho light?

Shadow Shot Sunday/Chelsea

For other Shadow Shot pictures go to Hey Harriet

.

A warm afternoon after lots of rain. Here an old building on 18th Street and 7th Avenue is reflected in a new one.



Lovely colors on shopfronts on 9th Avenue.



The sort of doorway that lures one in - also 9th Avenue.



The flowers hop that had the two interesting cats in the entrance to Chelsea Market is no more. It is being turned into something else, so the windows are blocked out with posters of other parts of the market.
As greedy people, we come here often.
The Italian shop has excellent lime blossom honey.

A Cheerful Day/Shadow Shot Sunday -early

This first somewhat seasonal picture is for Hey Harriet's Shadow Shot Sunday.
See here for other cool shadow shots.



A sunny Halloween morning walk took us past the psychic's shop. I'm always a little dubious about these since they often look a little down-at-heels.
This one looked more prosperous.



The dancing skeleton banner was a new one on me. It decorates a rather lovely brownstone on 22nd Street.



At Union Square a whole troup of charmingly costumed pre-schoolers passed by.

An Almost Retro Friday

For some reason, when I got home yesterday and looked at my photos I discovered a sort of melancholy yellowish-gray tinge to them.
Here a building on 18th Street and 7th Avenue that was probably built in the 30's of the last century.



A nice bulky truck - the very apotheosis of truckness.



It is always nice to have lunch here.
The Union Square Cafe gets it exactly right.
It's very understated.



When I next go there, I will wear this dress from Anthropologie in these very weird colors.



For some reason Tudor-revival small paned windows make me feel slightly sad. They are redolent of teashops in the 1950's.
A musty odor of violets.

Looking Up

Went for a walk yesterday afternoon in west Chelsea towards the Hudson. a brilliant blue sky and lovely white clouds.
Manhattan is pretty much a vertical city - so one inevitably looks up.
Here the cross streets of 10th Avenue and 24th.



This new building is going to have an elevator inside so people can bring their CARS up to their floor with them.
I'm not quite sure what to make of this - except to think some people must have absurd amounts of money. They will also have views of the Hudson River.



A wonderful modern building - all glass and reflections.
Yesterday west New York was in the direct flight path to LaGuardia or maybe Kennedy.



Blue skies over 11th Avenue in the gallery district.



The Good Humor man - with traditional truck and uniform.
Too hard to resist.

Under Construction/Renovation

Needless to say, I have been doing a lot of walking about.
What I've noticed is that lots of buildings are being fixed up one way or another.
This one is on 5th Avenue around 20th Street. I like the idea that the drop cloth is pretending to be the building itself.
A useful idea.



Two more pictures of the same building...............



Of course, in view of what's been happening lately, one feels a little wary of the cranes..........but they are fun to take pictures of.



This construction is in Union Square. The billowing plastic a contrast to all the green plants below.
New York is always renewing itself.

London Details

Our friend Roger has restored his wonderful 1849 house with perfect attention to period colors and details. You can see "Victoria Villas" picked out in faded black paint over the front door.



In the kitchen, the big window throws light onto an inadvertent still life.



In the traditional garden (gasp a big garden in a city!) a blue bench hides behind the lavender bush and the pink roses.



In the street behind Roger's all the houses are painted different colors. I liked the blue one. And there was a Moroccan coral one and a successful yellow.
The two lilac ones weren't quite so wonderful - when I'm in charge of the world, I will reserve that color only for flowers.



There is something I like about this very quiet classical color scheme.

Essex

In England, a sentimental journey to the village where I grew up in Essex. Sadly, Essex has a reputation a bit like New Jersey in the US, when in fact it is rather wonderful.
We lived in a gamekeeper's cottage on a huge estate and used to play in the woods constantly.
This park is the setting for a children's story, Jane in Winter, that I've just finished.
This is a scary blasted oak........



......and a magical tree stump.



When I was a child, Thorndon Hall was derelict and the fountain did not play. Once the center part of the hall went up in flames at night. Very dramatic.



Flowers in St.Nicholas Churchyard in Ingrave............



.........and more of the churchyard where I spent many happy hours reading the gravestones.......



The pond in Herongate where we used to feed the ducks. The Friary in the background.



And Mrs.Dickerson's cottage next to the Boar's Head. We used to call Mrs. Dickerson "The Old Lady with no stockings" - but, obviously, never to her face. It used to be rather organic looking . Now it has been 'improved'.



The requisite number of ducks which now seem to have a diet of potato crisps - and continue to thrive.



In the distance, across the flat Essex countryside, Heron Hall, built long ago by the Tyrell family, where my friend Caroline lived.
The house is partially surrounded by a moat where who knows what lurked......